


Richard Walqtter. 




Class _"B£_1U_ 
GojyrightN 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



HOW 

TO READ CHARACTER 



BY 



HANDWRITING. 



Richard Walouer 



He who knows, and knows he knows, is 
wise. Follow him. 



,•■ y' 









PETER ECKLER, 

35 FULTON STREET, 

NEW YORK. 



f~THE iLJBHAKT 
CONGRESS, 

Tw Cunt* RfeO«veD 




S^ 



Copyright, 1902, 

BY 

Peter Eckler. 



All rights reserved. 



HOW TO TELL CHARACTER BY 
HANDWRITING. 



Lesson I. 



Introductory. 

MANY great thinkers have ac- 
knowledged that the handwrit- 
ing reflects, to a certain extent, the 
intelligence and character of the writer, 
but the study of these indications has 
hitherto been looked upon rather as a 
matter of sentiment and fancy than as 
a serious science. Foreigners, both 
French and German, have, from time 
to time, occupied themselves on the 
subject, and even the great Lavater 
himself gave some attention to it, 
though only as supplementary to his 
work on physiognomy. In this * * Phy si- 



4 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

ognomical Fragments " he says : " The 
more I compare different handwritings, 
the more am I convinced that hand- 
writing is the expression of the charac- 
ter of him who writes. Each Nation 
has its national character of handwrit- 
ing, as the physiognomy of each people 
expresses the most salient points of 
character in the nation." I, who have 
given the matter a longer and more 
careful study than the great physi- 
ognomist thought it merited, am quite 
prepared to indorse that opinion. The 
graceful "insouciance" of the French 
Nation, its dislike of fixed work and 
inability to " buckle to" to steady 
labor, are shown by the rounded curves, 
the long and sloping upstrokes and 
downstrokes of the most ordinary type 
of French writings; the vanity and 
boastfulness of the nation are shown 
in the liberal amount of flourish in all 
the capital letters, and in the exag- 



BY HANDWRITING. 



gerated ornamentation of the signature 
of almost all French writers, whilst the 
delicacy of the lines of the letters, the 
fineness of the upstrokes and down- 
strokes are all typical of the grace and 
refinement for which the nation is 
celebrated all over the world. The 
German hardness, practically, the 
argumentativeness are all visible to the 
graphologist in the strange angular 
twists and upright lines in the cramped 
ordinary German writing. There are, 
of course, in each nation, indefinite 
varieties to be found, but the salient 
points of national character are, in both 
these instances, clearly apparent. Al- 
though I have studied all these varieties 
it is from English handwritings most 
of the examples will be given, as being, 
of course, more interesting to English 
readers. 

That the handwriting really reflects 
the personality of the writer, is evi- 



6 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

dent from the fact that it alters and 
develops with the intelligence, that it 
becomes firm when the character 
strengthens, weak and feeble when the 
person who writes is ill, or agitated and 
erratic when he is under the influence 
of great joy, grief, or any other passion. 
The dissimulating, the obstinate, the 
idle man, all aptitudes, bad or good, 
all sensations, even those that are most 
fugitive, are betrayed to the graphol- 
ogist in a simple letter, written, per- 
haps, with a view of giving its receiver 
quite a different opinion to that which 
one learned in the matter would glean 
from it. It will not, however, go so 
far as to say that a few lines are suffi- 
cient to give an unerring character of 
the writer; something may be gleaned 
from a simple address or even auto- 
graph, but many persons do not form 
the same letters always in the same 
manner, and where this is observable, 



BY HANDWRITING. 



it is necessary to see which form pre- 
dominates, and from this to strike the 
balance in the judgment; again, a cer- 
tain letter indicating very markedly, a 
certain quality, may occur very fre- 
quently in a few lines, while other 
letters which the writer might form in 
such a manner as to indicate an op- 
posing quality (and which, if seen, 
would modify considerably the judge's 
views) might not occur even once ; or 
the few lines might have been written 
in extreme haste, or under the influ- 
ence of some very exceptional circum- 
stances, and thus a character would be 
given to the handwriting which it 
would not take in its normal state, or 
if there had been a sufficient quantity 
of it for other characteristics to show T 
themselves; of course, some salient 
points in a character may be gleaned 
from a few lines, or a mere address, 
but to say that the character of a person 



8 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

may be given in its entirety from such 
a specimen is to wrong the art. 

Neither is it at all fair to a parapho- 
logist to send letters for judgment 
written by persons who know the use 
to which such letters will be put, when 
the writer insensibly poses for his men- 
tal portrait, and thus his writing be- 
comes unnatural. What is required 
is a natural letter, something spontane- 
ous, such as the rough copy of a manu- 
script or a letter to an intimate friend, 
written without any thought beyond 
putting the ideas into simple and un- 
derstandable language ; a letter in 
which the writer has no idea of its be- 
ing kept or shown about, in which 
case writing is apt to lose its natural- 
ness, and is, therefore, less valuable as 
a study. Another difficulty grapholo- 
gists have to contend with is, that we 
seldom know 7 accurately the character 
of our most intimate friends, and it 



BY HANDWRITING. 9 

thus often happens that, the writing 
being franker than the writer, friends 
are apt to dispute even an accurate 
judgment. In order to form a thorough- 
ly correct estimate of character from 
handwriting, specimens should be 
given from several different periods in 
the life of an individual ; for the hand- 
writing changes from youth to man- 
hood, and from manhood to age, al- 
though it still retains, even to the most 
careless observer, something of the 
same character. As a man is advanc- 
ing in his career, as he takes up a new 
position, or is led away from some 
dominant passion, the handwriting 
takes, in some degree, the form typical 
of these changes. We come, by com- 
paring different specimens, written at 
different epochs of the life of the same 
individual, to be at least able to divine 
the disposition of mind in which a 
certain letter has been really written, 



IO HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

whatever may be the words in which 
it is couched. Here is the superiority 
which graphology has over the sister 
sciences of phrenology and palmistry. 
The inquirer has not to ask the person 
whom he wishes to judge to submit 
his head or his hand for examination ; 
he has only to write some trivial letter 
which shall demand an answer, and 
in his reply the victim offers himself 
for judgment. As a general rule, it is 
well to avoid taking in the sense of 
what is expressed in a letter submitted 
for judgment, only analyzing it ac- 
cording to the formation of the letters 
and their position on the paper. 

II. 
Before entering upon the signs 
typical of the different qualities of the 
mind and the temperament as shown 
in handwritings taken as a whole, it 
may be as well to give a few rules as 



BT HANDWRITING. II 

to the indications given by the differ- 
ent formations of the finals of words. 
Even the most careless of observers 
must have noticed that, instead of fin- 
ishing each word with the delicate up- 
stroke so much in favor with writing 
masters, some persons do so with a 
brusque, some with an angular, and 
some with a thick line ; that their lines 
are sometimes long, sometimes short 
— in fact, that there is the greatest pos- 
sible variety in the manner in which 
different writers form the terminals. 
Now these differences have all their 
various significations to a graphologist. 
When the finals stop suddenly the 
moment the letter of a word is formed, 
as if the writer would not give an atom 
more ink than necessary, it is an un- 
erring sign of economy carried to the 
extreme. Should the finals be still 
more suppressed, then it is sordid 
economy amounting to avarice. The 



12 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

gradations from honest economy 
(which is but prudence) to sordid thrift, 
and thence to avarice, are marked by 
the greater or less freedom in the 
length of finals. When, on the con- 
trary, the finals are long, very much 
rounded and raised, it is the sign typ- 
ical of generosity. If the finals are not 
only rounded and raised but take up 
a long space between the words — are, 
in fact, very pronounced— then the 
generosity becomes prodigality and 
should the rest of the writing give a 
total absence of the signs typical of 
prudence, it would mean extravagance, 
almost to dishonesty. If the finals are 
angular and moderately ascendant, 
and terminate words which have also 
an ascendant movement, it is the sign 
of quickness of temper which is swift 
to anger ; a handwriting where all the 
finals are well rounded and gentle, and 



BY HANDWRITING. 13 

in which there are no broken curves 
nothing sudden or sharp, denotes in 
the writer a gentle benevolent nature ; 
it is also typical of elegance of mind 
and perception of form. The writing 
of musicians of the second order, where 
imagination is not dominant, is apt to 
take this form in the finals ; this type 
in the extreme, is indicative of in- 
dolence. 

Finals that rise in a sharply angular 
manner above the level of the other 
letters, show an ardent temperament; 
if they rise very high, and this move- 
ment is seen constantly throughout 
the writing, it indicates wit of the 
pungent, sarcastic kind; if rounded 
curves fly up very high it is sense of 
humor of a more kindly nature. 

When the finals take curves which 
are broken, as if the pen had been in- 
tended to describe a series of angles, 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER 



the writers are generally persons with 
little or no taste for art ; it is the sign, 
unless other points in the letter re- 
deem it, of absence of cultivation, of 
harshness, and want of tact and sym- 
pathy. 



AFFECTION — AMBITION — A V A- 
RICE — BENEVOLENCE. 

THE quality of affection (tenderness 
of nature) is shown by a sloping 
writing with rounded curves; hard, 
cold and self contained natures write 
with almost upright characters, whilst 
sensitive and tender persons betray 
themselves as such by inclined lines ; 
such writing seen from a distance, 
when the quality is in excess, has the 
appearance of aspen boughs swayed 
by the wind. 

The signs typical of ambition in 
handwriting is a constantly ascendant 
movement of the writing. We often 
in conjunction with this type see sensi- 
bility, tenderness and other qualities 
of all sorts ; but where the writing has 

15 



l6 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

this ascendant movement, ambition, be 
the writer's position what it may, will 
be the ruling passion. Where not only 
the waiting has this ascendant move- 
ment, en masse, but where each word 
takes the upward movement also, the 
quality is still more pronounced. The 
ascendant writing means also that hope, 
energy, and ardor are strong in the 
character of the writer, but ambition 
cannot exist without the first quality, 
and is rarely successful without the 
last two. There may be hopefulness 
without ambition, but never ambition 
without hope. In the simply hopeful 
character the writing has only an as- 
cendant movement at intervals, and 
certain words here and there run up, 
while the ambitious character is shown 
by the unfailing ascendant movement 
of the whole writing. The signs typi- 
cal of avarice in the handwriting are 
as follows : All the upstrokes and down- 



BY HANDWRITING. 



strokes of the writing finish abruptly, 
without any return lines; all the small 
letters terminating each word, have the 
same character of abruptness, and are 
quite without any prolonged curves or 
lines, as if the writer could not make 
up his mind to expend even a little ink 
unnecessarily. Where these signs are 
very marked, and where, when they 
exist, we see no other redeeming signs 
typical of tenderness or goodness, we 
should hardly be guilty of a harsh 
judgment if we decided that such a 
character of writing denoted the most 
sordid avarice. 

Benevolence — which in alphabetical 
order can be treated immediately after 
avarice, shows, of course, the very op- 
posite indications. It will be seen that 
the writing, which is peculiarly sig- 
nificant of this quality, is a combina- 
tion of the signs typical of affection 
and generosity. Affection (as w T e have 



l8 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

seen) is indicated by a writing having 
a sloping movement with rounded 
curves. 

Generosity is signified by a writing 
in which there is a good deal of flow 
in the finals. 



CALMNESS — CANDOR— CONSCI- 
ENTIOUSNESS— CONSTANCY- 
COURAGE— CAUTION. 

THE quality of calmness, and con- 
sequently gentleness, is shown 
by a writing having softly rounded 
curves, with short upstrokes and down- 
strokes and which presents no irregu- 
larities of form, either in the capitals 
or finals. 

Candor is indicated by a handwriting 
in which the letters of the words are 
all of the same size, and where the lines 
are even, that is, do not take the wavy 
serpentine form typical of untruth or 
at any rate of dissimulation. The small 
letters "a" and "g" not closed, are 
also indications of candor in a hand- 
writing. It is now however, necessary 

19 



20 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

that the lines should be even with the 
line of the paper, for a person may be 
truthful and yet have much ardor, 
hope and ambition (which are all in- 
dicated by an ascendant movement) 
in which case the writing suggestive of 
candor would retain from all points I 
have mentioned, only the lines, while 
even and equidistant in point of posi- 
tion would take a continually ascen- 
dant direction. A writing w-hich pre- 
sents the salient points indicative of 
candor without the sloping direction 
of the letters, typical of tenderness and 
sensitiveness would be significative of 
a straightforward, truthful person, 
who would not hesitate to tell us disa- 
greeable truths ; whilst on the contrary 
a sloping handwriting in which the 
letters were all the same size and the 
lines even and equidistant would sug- 
gest a sweet, frank and honorable per- 
son, who, whilst telling us the truth 



BY HANDWRITING. 21 

on all points of importance, would do 
so in the gentlest and least wounding 
manner possible. 

Conscientiousness is shown by a 
hand in which the writing as well as 
presenting the uniform size of the let- 
ters seen in the truthful hand, is placed 
in rigidly equidistant lines on the paper. 

Constancy is indicated by a hand 
having the indications already given 
for candor (or truthfulness) but also 
the small letter "t" in writing should 
be strongly barred either with a short 
thick stroke or with a long flying line, 
it should present the appearance of a 
barbed hook at its termination. 

Courage has the mounting move- 
ment shown by the handwritings in- 
dicative of ambition , but it has also 
the indications of will power as shown 
in the strongly-barred small letter "t." 

Caution is shown by the handwrit- 
ing in which a line is put, instead of 



22 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

a full stop, at the end of every sentence, 
and also under the signature. When 
a full stop is placed at the termination 
of the sentence and the line after it, it 
shows an excess of the quality. The 
writing of cautious persons is general- 
ly somewhat upright and compressed ; 
still, I have sometimes seen an other- 
wise impulsive handwriting in which 
the sign typical of caution is shown ; 
but this is then one of the cases of the 
contradictory indications which are so 
puzzling to neophytes in the science. 



DISSIMULATION-ENERGY- ECON- 
OMY—GENEROSITY—HUMOR 
—HUMILITY. 

A DISSIMULATING person seeks 
to disguise his thoughts ; the 
letters in the writing of such a person 
will therefore be the reverse of those 
in the writing of a frank, loyal, and 
straightforward person instead of be- 
ing raised and uniform size, they will 
dwindle sometimes to a mere thread- 
like line on the paper. The finals are 
generally even more illegible than the 
letters in the middle and at the com- 
mencement of the words ; but the let- 
ters " o " " a" and " g " are firmly closed. 
The line of writing too, is generally 
serpentine and irregular. 

In judging a handwriting it is very 
necessary that the graphologist should 



24 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

be able to distinguish between a writ- 
ing which is illegible because it is 
rapidly thrown off the pen, or because 
the writer is of an untruthful nature. 
In the first instance the letters may be 
somewhat gladiolated here and there 
but more because the pen has hurried 
over them ; they are, therefore, more 
uniform than really gladiolated. Such 
writings are the result of a certain 
rapidity of thought which hardly per- 
mits, in its impatience, the brain to go 
through the slow process of carrying 
the hand to form every letter in the 
word. Such a writing means a spon- 
taneous, ardent, but not deceptive 
nature. 

We must also beware of dissimula- 
tion or want of straightforwardness 
with finesse. I use the word finesse 
in its original sense — that is in that 
which it conveys in the French language 
from which it has its origin. Finesse 



BY HANDWRITING. 2J 

is not dissimulation ; it is merely that 
subtleness of mind which enables its 
possessor to see a thing in all its bear- 
ings. It is a quality belonging to 
clever, rather than to deceptive persons ; 
indeed, one may be of a very loyal 
upright nature, and yet have finesse. 
The handwriting which indicates this 
quality is angular, denoting penetra- 
tion; and the commencing letters of 
each word are larger than those form- 
ing the finals, but, (and this is the 
great point of distinction between 
finesse and dissimulation) the lines of 
the writing are straight; the writer 
wishes to take no unfair advantage — 
he only wishes to arrive at his ends 
cleverly. He does not wish "to do," 
but only not "to be done ;" and there 
is great difference. 

Energy is typified to the graphol- 
ogist by a writing rather angular than 
rounded, and one which has a some- 



26 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

what ascendant movement of the lines, 
though not as markedly so as in am- 
bition ; this is easily understood. Most 
energetic persons are to a certain ex- 
tent ambitious, eager to arrive at some 
end or other, whether small or great, 
which is, for the moment the aim of 
their activity, indeed, in most writing 
where ambition is the salient point we 
generally find also the signs which in- 
dicate energy ; but still there are some 
in which they are absent. In such 
cases (where the writing is very as- 
cendant, with rounded, not angular 
curves) a slow determined ambition is 
indicated and more especially so where 
(as is generally the case in such in- 
stances) the bars of the small letter 
"t" are short and thick, suggestive 
of an obstinate will. When the lines 
of the writing take a constantly, 
but moderately ascendant movement, 
where the letters are angular and above 



BY HANDWRITING. 27 

all, where the small letter " t " is, wher- 
ever it occurs, barred with a long stroke 
lying somewhat low on the letters at 
the first start off and then taking the 
ascendant movement of the rest of the 
writing towards its termination — the 
writer will be a quick tempered, ener- 
getic person, with quite enough will to 
make him (combined with his energy) 
troublesome as an opponent, but he 
will not be obstinate or despotic. This 
handwriting is very general among 
great travelers. 

Economy is shown by a writing in 
which the upstrokes and downstrokes 
are short, and in which the finals end 
abruptly without any of the prolonged 
curves which are indicative of gener- 
osity ; in fact it shows a faint reflex 
of the indications already given, of 
avarice which is economy carried to 
excess. There are, however, many 
degrees between a thrifty desire to 



28 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

make both ends of a small income meet 
— an honest although perhaps, too rigid 
economy — and the mean vice of sordid 
avarice. Possessitivity, the desire to 
amass the exaggeration of which is 
misappropriation, or in plain words 
theft, is shown by the signs typical of 
economy in conjunction with those of 
want of rectitude — the serpentine lines 
of dissimulation, the opposite of 
straightforwardness, and the absence 
of all the signs typical of benevolence. 
Generosity is indicated by a writing 
in which there are long, flowing and 
rounded curves through all the ter- 
minals, and in which the lines and the 
words are placed far apart, the writer 
has no thought of petty economies of 
paper and ink — all is careless profusion. 
The upstrokes and downstrokes are 
long, and always present return curves 
of a rounded form. The capital letters 
are large and flowing. 



BY HANDWRITING. 29 

The quality of honor in the character 
of a handwriting has almost the same 
signs as candor, viz., an almost rectan- 
gular straightness of the lines, and a 
perfect equality in the size of the let- 
ters. The writing need not be rect- 
angularly straight as regards the paper, 
but the lines must be rigidly equi- 
distant one from the other. The 
ascendant movement of the writing 
indicative of ambition, ardor and ener- 
gy may exist, and very frequently does, 
but the extreme rigidity of equi-distant 
lines, in which case the writer would 
be of an ardent, ambitious tempera- 
ment, but with a keen sense of honor. 

Humility (the absense of pride and 
egotism) is shown by a small writing 
without any flourish beneath the sig- 
nature. Many of those greatest in art 
and literature have these simple sig- 
natures for, while mere talent is self 
assertive and egotistic, genius is not so. 



IMAGINATION— INDOLENCE- 
IMPULSE. 

ONE of the principal signs in hand- 
writing typical of imagination, 
is a certain irregular movement ; and 
owing to this very movement, illegi- 
bility. The mind of an imaginative 
person works rapidly and the writing 
takes the same character ; long flying 
upstrokes and downstrokes, termina- 
tions of letters flying upstrokes, and 
floating like banners, over the other 
letters; large eccentric forms to the 
capitals — all these things are signs of 
imagination. Still, with all this the 
illegibility of the imagination must 
not be confounded with that of the 
uncultivated writer — all illegible hands 
are not those of persons of imagination. 

30 



BY HANDWRITING. 31 

The writing of imaginative persons 
with all the illegibility and even un- 
tidiness peculiar to it, has always the 
redeeming point of a certain grace of 
form in the capital letters, which is 
indicative of that sense of beauty which 
is never entirely absent from the writ- 
ing of the poets, although in these 
writings the movement of the writing, 
and consequently illegibility, is gen- 
erally the mOvSt salient point. 

Indolence is shown by a handwriting 
full of rounded, languid and nerveless- 
looking curves and the absence of all 
angularity and rigidity, both in the 
direction of the lines and the termina- 
tions of the letters, which last are 
sometimes hardly formed, as if the 
writer could not be troubled to write 
more than half the word, indicating the 
last letters by a few languid move- 
ments of the pen ; but these half fin- 
ished terminals have yet an entirely 



33 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

different expression from those given 
by the impatient writer, since they are 
always rounded, while those of the 
impatient person are angular. 

Impulse has very much the same 
characteristics as imagination — the 
long flying upstrokes and downstrokes 
and a general look of movement in the 
writing ; but it is generally wanting in 
the grace of form of the capital letters, 
which is one of the distinguishing signs 
of imagination of a high order. Most 
impulsive people have a certain amount 
of imagination, and nearly all imagi- 
native people are somewhat impulsive, 
though not necessarily always so. 



JEALOUSY— JUDGMENT— LOYAL- 
TY— MELANCHOLY. 

THE quality of jealousy like that 
of benevolence, is indicated by a 
combination of tenderness (a jealous 
person is generally one of warm affec- 
tion) egotism, (very unselfish natures 
are not jealous) and imagination ; the 
calmer judgment which goes with the 
same reasoning minds, is rarely dis- 
turbed by jealousy. 

Trifles, light as air, are to the jealous, 
Confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ. 

This is true as everything else which 
the great master in the divine art has 
said, but it is of itself a proof of how 
much the imagination has to do with 
jealousy. I do not mean to infer that 
all imaginative persons are prone to 



34 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

be the victims of the green-eyed 
monster, but only that, given to a cer- 
tain amount of imagination the brood- 
ing self -consciousness of egotism, and 
a fair degree of sensitiveness and ten- 
derness and we have the naturally 
jealous person. 

Judgment in a person is typified in 
two ways in the handwriting ; there is 
the judgment which is the result of in- 
tuition, and the judgment which is the 
result of sequence of ideas. The first 
is shown by the letters and syllables 
of a word being all juxtaposition, but 
without any connecting lines ; this in 
handwriting invariably means the 
faculty of intuition or instinctive judg- 
ment and rapid observation. We see 
this in the writing of novelists who 
have distinguished themselves in the 
description of social life and char- 
acter. 

Loyalty is another of the qualities 



BY HANDWRITING. 35 

shown by a combination of types, and 
there is one of which I need give no 
example but in Nora. 

The handwriting which shows loyal- 
ty is one which has the sloping charac- 
ter indicative of tenderness, combined 
with the rounded curves and full flow- 
ing lines of generosity, with the as- 
cendant movement of the lines of the 
writing which is indicative of ardor 
and enthusiasm. Given all these in- 
dications, with a total absence of self- 
ishness, and we have the loyalty which 
sheds its blood like water, even in a 
failing cause. 

The melancholic, desponding tem- 
perament is indicated by a handwriting 
the reverse of the ambitious, ardent 
and hopeful. Instead of the ascendant 
lines and upward movement of many 
words in the line, there is a constant 
depression in the writing — a tendency 
to run down into the corner of the page ; 



36 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

and besides this, certain words will 
even have a downward movement of 
their own, apart from that of the line. 
Such handwritings as these indicate 
ill health. 



OBSTINACY — ORIGINALITY— 
PENETRATON — PATIENCE- 
PERSEVERANCE— PRIDE— PRU- 
DENCE. 

OBSTINACY, or, as persons who 
possess like to call it, a deter- 
mined will, is characterized by a hand- 
writing angular and rather upright, 
and by downward strokes terminating 
abruptly without any return or con- 
necting upstrokes ; this sign, however, 
must not be confused with one of the 
signs typical of economy and avarice. 
The downstroke of the obstinate per- 
son not only terminates without any 
return line, like those indicative of the 
above qualities, but it has the decided 
thickening at the end — a sort of 
bludgeon-like termination. The last 
and strongest indication of the obstin- 

37 



38 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

ate will is, that all the small letters 
"t" are barred by a short thick stroke 
close to the other small letters and 
sometimes crushing down upon them. 
This stroke is sometimes long in the 
writing of obstinate natures, but the 
terminating point has either a sort of 
angular crook, or it has the same 
bludgeon-like termination I have in- 
dicated as being seen in all the down- 
strokes of the obstinate person. 

Originality runs imagination close 
in its outward sign of the peculiar 
forms of letters, and that they are pecu- 
liar and erratic, they give to the writing 
that untidy illegibility which I have 
said is the result of the predominance 
in a handwriting of the signs typical 
of imagination; but the great difference 
is, that whilst the eccentric forms pecu- 
liar to the poetic or imaginative mind 
are shown in the writing which is typ- 
ical of originality, the graceful and 



BY HANDWRITING. 39 

flowing forms showing imagination 
are entirely absent. 

Penetration is shown in a handwriting 
by the signs I have given as indicative 
of intuitive judgment, viz.: letters in 
juxtaposition without any connecting 
lines between them ; but the difference 
between penetration and intuitive j udg- 
ment is that, in the former quality we 
have angular forms in all the letters, 
especially the capitals, and also in the 
terminals as well as the letters in jux- 
taposition. 

Patience is indicated by a writing in 
which the lines are straight as regards 
their position on the paper and rec- 
tangularly equidistant ; the upstrokes 
and downstrokes are short, showing 
the absence of impulse and imagination, 
two qualities which are inconsistent 
with the calm of mind which produces 
patience. The writing indicative of 
this quality has rounded curves, for 



40 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

patient people are invariably gentle; 
the bars which cross the letter "t " are 
always straight and short, but not thick 
or violently accentuated, for the will 
power in patient people is passive, not 
active — it exists but it is not aggressive. 

Perseverance is patience combined 
with energy and persistent will power 
is an active, not passive quality. It 
has the same indication of the straight 
movement of the lines, but the writing 
is angular and the bars to the letter 
" t " more strongly accentuated and gen- 
erally ending in a sort of hook which 
gives persistent will power. 

Pride is shown by a handwriting 
somewhat large in size, and in which 
the capital letters are also large. 
Physiognomists have remarked that 
pride produces a sort of extension of 
the fibres of the body — hence, we say, 
"puffed up with pride" ; and certainly 
we must all of us have observed, that 



BY HANDWRITING. 41 

persons whose pride is offended inva- 
riably draw themselves up to their full 
height before replying. Therefore, in 
the handwriting — which reproduces 
every shade of feeling and of thought 
— pride is, of course represented by the 
writing indicated by the exaggerated 
height, not only of the small, but also 
of the capital letters. 

The indications of prudence are the 
same as those given for caution ; it is, 
therefore, needless to give an example 
illustrative of this quality. 



QUARRELSOMENESS— REFINE- 
MENT — SENSITIVENESS — SEN- 
SUOUSNESS — SENSUALITY- 
SPIRITUALITY— SELFISHNESS- 
TACT— TENDERNESS. 

A QUARRELSOME, irritable, cap- 
tious temperament is shown 
by an angular, irregular writing, in 
which all the bars of the small letters 
"t" are made to slant upwards; and if 
these bars terminate in a sharp angular 
crook, it indicates not only an irritable 
temper but a strong and tenacious will. 
Refinement of mind and consequent- 
ly manners, is shown by a writing in 
which delicacy and grace is predom- 
inant ; the writing of a refined person 
will also have the sign of tenderness 
or sensitiveness strongly developed, 

42 



BY HANDWRITING. 43 

Sensitiveness is shown by a writing 
with a very sloping movement. 

Sensuousness— that is, a temperament 
which is much influenced by the sort 
of beauty which appeals to the senses 
— is shown by a writing elegant in 
form, with rounded curves and graceful 
capitals, but the downstrokes are 
heavy. 

Sensuality is an excess of sensuous- 
ness, and is shown by a writing which 
is very heavy and black in all parts. 

Sprituality (purity and elevation of 
thought and feeling) is shown, as 
might be expected, by a handwriting 
the very reverse of that which indicates 
sensuality. The writing of a spiritual 
person is formed of strokes on which 
the hand does not weigh heavily. It 
shows therefore no black strokes, but 
is all of one color and is likely the 
most delicate tracery, the pen appear- 
ing to float lightly over the paper in a 



44 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

sort of aerial manner. The capitals are 
always elegant in form, and the letters 
in many of the words are in juxta- 
position without being joined, which 
is a sign of ideality ; and spirituality 
of mind is the result of a certain ideal- 
ism in the character. 

Selfishness is shown by an upright 
angular writing with short and angular 
terminals and by a sort of inward curve 
to all the capital letters which lend 
themselves to this movement. A self- 
sufficing nature, neither requiring nor 
giving sympathy is always a more or 
less selfish nature, and is shown by an 
upright compressed hand but without 
the inward curves which, in combina- 
tion with the upright movement, show 
extreme selfishness. 

In speaking of dissimulation, it w r ill 
be remembered I warned my readers 
not to confuse this quality with that 
subtlety of mind which the French call 



BY HANDWRITING. 45 

"finesse", and we "tact." Dissimula- 
tion is shown by letters of uneven 
heights, placed in tortuous lines and 
by words which are so gladiolated that 
some of the last letters are all merged 
into a thread-like line the meaning of 
which has to be guessed at rather than 
read. Now, tact — that subtlety of mind 
which distinguishes the clever person 
— has one indication which is found 
in the dissimulati ve writing — the words 
are gladiolated, never, however suf- 
ficiently so as to be illegible; but the 
distinctive mark between the qualities 
is that, where the dissimulative person 
writes with a serpentine waviness of 
line, the clever straight-forward person, 
who only wishes to be successful in 
society without injuring others, al- 
though using somewhat gladiolated 
words, invariably writes in straight 
lines. 

Tenderness is a mixture of the sign 



46 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

typical of affection and sensitiveness — 
that is, it is a writing with the rounded 
curves showing affection, and is almost 
as sloping as that indicative of the 
sensitive nature. Still the writing of 
a tender nature never has angular 
terminals, whilst that of a sensitive 
nature may show this form. Most 
tender natures are sensitive, but some 
sensitive natures are not tender. I 
have sometimes seen the sloping form 
of sensitiveness with the inward curves 
of selfishness, in which case it would 
indicate a sensitive person, but sensi- 
tive only as regarded himself. 



VANITY — VERSATILITY — WILL- 
ZEAL. 

VANITY is shown by an inordinate 
amount of flourish beneath the 
signature. 

Versatility of mind is shown by let- 
ters of continual different heights, and 
by slightly gladiolated terminals with 
rounded curves. 

Will power is shown, first by writing 
in which both the small and capital let- 
ters are angular in form and in which 
the termination of the words are also 
angular. The bludgeon-like form of 
the downstrokes of the small letters 
"g"> "q" and "z" is also another in- 
dication of strong will ; but the great 
indication of will power, in all its 
varieties, is shown by the method of 
barring the small letter "t". If the 

47 



48 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

bar crossing the letter is produced with 
so quick and violent a movement of the 
pen that it over-rides the letter flying 
far above it, it is a sign of a quick, 
strong and impatient sort of will. If 
the bar crossing the letter " T" is long, 
but has an upward and rounded curve, 
we have a certain amount of will power 
but which is totally without persistence. 
This sort of bar shows grace, refine- 
ment, and a certain artistic perception 
of beauty. When the bar is broad and 
thick, and is club-like in form at its 
termination we have a resolute will. 
If the bar of the letter "T" crosses it 
with a sharp, thick, ascendant move- 
ment, we have the indication of an 
irritable and strong will. When the 
bar which crosses the "T" is a short, 
thick, decisive bar, as even and exact 
as if it had been ruled, placed down 
on the letter, it indicates a slow and 
obstinate nature which never yields. 



BY HANDWRITING. 49 

It seems needless to add, that the ab- 
sence of any bar, and merely a loop to 
the letter "t" shows a nature of will 
power altogether. 

Zeal is a combination of the qualities 
which I gave as being characteristic of 
loyalty, only energy and ardor must be 
more dominant than even tenderness, 
which is one of the most salient features 
in a handwriting that typifies loyalty. 



PUNCTUATION AND SIGNATURES. 

THE mode of punctuation in writing 
presents a graphological sign of 
no small importance; indeed, in the 
examination of one of those vile black- 
handed slanders, an anonymous letter, 
it is the punctuation, which, to the 
adept, generally betrays the low soul 
which strikes in the dark. Those who 
write such letters are generally suf- 
ficiently on their guard to disguise in 
some measure, and, as they think, ef- 
effectually, the writing; but in some 
instances in which my aid has been 
called in it has been the punctuation 
which has led me to the discovery of 
the delinquent. The forms of the 
capital letters are, however, also a great 
guide in such matters. If for instance, 
one sees a peculiar form in a capital 

50 



BY HANDWRITING. 51 

letter of the natural handwriting of the 
suspected person only once, or at most 
twice, appearing in the anonymous 
letter, it would be a salient proof of 
guilt, even though the other instances 
in which the same letter appeared 
might be different. The very fact of 
an isolated form in any capital seen in 
an anonymous letter, should instantly 
arrest the attention of the graphologist ; 
and if this isolated form is a peculiar 
one, and also to be seen in the natural 
writing of the suspected person, it 
would be in itself a very strong proof 
of guilt. People, however, are more 
or less on their guard respecting the 
capital letters, whilst as regards the 
stops they seem to forget entirely the 
need for concealment. The grapholog- 
ical indication of the stops is as fol- 
lows : — Should the full stop which most 
people, even those who ignore the 
other forms of punctuation, put at the 



52 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

end of the sentence, be only faintly in- 
dicated, it shows a weak and feeble 
will, timidity and want of energy, un- 
less there are very remarkable indica- 
tions of energy in the ascendant move- 
ment of the writing, w r hen the feeble 
stop would only diminish the amount 
of energy given by the other indication. 
When the full stop is large, round and 
very black, as if the hand making it 
had leaned heavily on the pen, we have 
a sensual nature, unless (but this com- 
bination is rarely or never seen) the 
writing should be of the aerial and 
delicate type, which gives purity and 
refinement, and then the heavy period 
would only mean a sensuous and poetic, 
but not grossly sensual nature. 

A full stop made in an elongated, 
pear-shaped form, more like a comma 
than a full-stop, indicates vivacity, 
eccentricity or originality in ideas, 
should the rest of the writing be intel- 



BY HANDWRITING. 53 

lectual. These same rules all apply to 
the dots above the small letters i and 
j with the following added indications. 
Should every dot be placed regularly 
in its proper place immediately over 
the lettter, and at just the right dis- 
tance above it, we have an indication 
of order, precision and attention to de- 
tail. When the dot over the small let- 
ters "i" and " j " is far away from the 
letter to which it belongs, and, above 
all, if, instead of being round, it is 
comma shaped, we have want of re- 
flection, impulse and impressionability 
— a certain easygoing recklessness of 
character. If the dots are altogether 
absent over these letters in writing — • 
continually absent (for a single omis- 
sion would mean nothing) — it indi- 
cates inattention, want of precision and 
negligence of detail. The omission of 
the stops at the end of the phrases 
shows in the writer a want of caution, 



54 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

a totally unsuspicious person; but if 
all the punctuation is rigorously at- 
tended to, we have order, attention, 
prudence and business-like habits, or, 
sometimes, if the writing is of the 
intellectual type, literary pursuits. 
When the writer employs at the end 
of his phrases a long series of dots, it 
indicates romance and enthusiasm. 

Where the note of admiration is very 
long, so as to be out of proportion to 
the size of the writing, it indicates 
vivid imagination. This form is gen- 
erally seen in conjunction with the 
handwriting in which the upstrokes 
and downstrokes are flying in all di- 
rections, and often cutting into the 
lines of the letters above and below 
them ; when it is of the bludgeon-like 
form, with a thick square top, it is an 
indication of resolution ; when thin and 
delicate in form and very frequently 
employed in the writing, it indicates a 



BY HANDWRITING. 55 

romantic, sensitive temperament ; and 
if, when having this form it is also 
very sloping, it shows a tenderly pas- 
sionate nature. When it is regular 
and simple in form and has nothing 
abnormal about it, it indicates a calm 
and reasonable nature, order and regu- 
larity; if formed in any peculiar or 
irregular manner, it indicates eccen- 
tricity or at any rate marked individu- 
ality; when it is freely written, and 
only half traced, it shows indolence 
and w r ant of vivacity and temperament. 
All these remarks apply equally of 
course, to the note of interrogation. 
If at the end of each phrase, instead 
of a stop, we see a bar, it indicates cau- 
tion ; and if we see a stop followed by 
a bar, this indication is increased in 
force. When a bar which underlines 
a word is so straight as to look as if it 
had been carefully ruled, it shows 
habits of attention and no indecision. 
LofC. 



56 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

Should the bar have this straight form, 
but terminate in a bludgeon-like square 
form, it indicates powerful resolution. 
If the bar at the termination of a phrase 
or which underlines a word, is rounded, 
and takes a graceful curve upwards, it 
indicates grace of thought or literary- 
habits and perception of beauty, but 
always a little versatility and caprice ; 
very serious thoughtful natures never 
have this curved form of line at the 
end of their phrases. If, however, these 
graceful undulating bars finish with a 
flourish, it indicates pretension and a 
certain vulgarity of mind. 

The signature which is of great im- 
portance in the study of a writing has 
many different indications. A simple 
signature, without any flourish beneath 
it, shows absence of pretention, nobility 
of mind, no vulgar self assertion. 
Many great writers sign simply and 
royally in this manner. Shakespeare 



BY HANDWRITING. 57 

and Fenelon, Tennyson and Shelley, all 
have this form of signature. If the 
signature is without ornamentation, 
but is followed by a full stop, it signi- 
fies caution, prudence and a disposition 
to see the dark side of things. This 
also means reserve. Byron sometimes 
signed his name in this manner, as also 
did Monsieur Thiers — two very differ- 
ent natures ; but in this instance the in- 
dication probably meant, in Byron's case 
reserve; in that of Thiers, prudence. 
Byron did not, however, always sign 
his name in this manner; he was a 
man of many moods, and this is shown 
by the extreme variability of his signa- 
ture. When the flourish takes any 
very particular abnormal form it is 
rather a sign of originality than vanity, 
though there is perhaps, always a slight 
mixture of egotistical feeling in all 
flourishes. If the signature, instead of 
a flourish only shows beneath it a 



58 HOW TO READ CHARACTER 

simple line terminating with a hook 
we have tenacity of purpose— persons 
who, having once formed an idea, do 
not readily give way to those of others. 
When a signature terminates in a line, 
it shows a cautious nature. When a 
signature has a single graceful flourish 
beneath it, with slightly curved ends, 
one turning upwards and the other 
downwards — and especially if this form 
has a slight ascendant movement, it 
shows artistic imagination and ideality 
not altogether without a love of effect, 
for this form of flourish and a little 
more accentuated gives coquetry. This 
form of signature, that is with the long 
flourish with the looped terminations 
more accentuated so as to form a 
rounded sort of hook, indicates coquetry 
and is as I have shown, characteristic 
of the signature of actresses. When 
the flourish beneath the signature has 
a series of senseless and vulgar forms, 



BY HANDWRITING. 59 

it indicates a pretentious and common- 
place nature in the writer. If a signa- 
ture having the form of a spider's web 
is crossed by a stroke which terminates 
in a hooked form, it indicates rapacity 
and miserliness. 

In concluding these remarks, I would 
beg would-be graphologists to re- 
member that, whilst the writing in the 
body of a letter gives the present state 
of the writer's feeling, the signature 
embodies past as well as the present, 
since its peculiarities are the result of 
years, during which there has been, of 
course, a continual repetition of these 
forms. Even, if in parts of a letter a 
momentary excitation alters the move- 
ment of the writing the normal charac- 
teristics generally re-assert themselves 
in the signature. 



NOV 29 1902 



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